Authors note: Yet another chapter. I know Zack is completely OOC, but I don't really care!! He's not a main character so... well. Yeah Enjoy


Chapter 17 – News

Reno came back about 15 minutes later in a foul mood, sporting a black eye and split lip.

"Oh god, Reno. What have you done this time?"

"It's that son of a bitch. He really doesn't wanna be here." He sat back down next to Elena, wiping the blood off his chin. "Don't worry, he's much worse off after doing this."

"We're gonna need to get some information off him." Tseng said.
"Like what?" Elena asked eagerly

"We need to know a little more about Claudia, and Zack for that matter, so this doesn't happen again."

"Ouch, Reno. That looks bad." Elena tried to get a closer look at Reno's eye.

"It's fine, 'Lena. Leave it. You gotta let me …get information from him. I tell ya, he won't refuse.." Reno said angrily.

"We'll all go. It's safer that way."


"Right. You gonna tell us what we wanna know or you gonna get what your girlfriend did." Reno said forcefully.

"Reno…" Tseng stepped in front of him. "Let's start again. We need some information from you, if you fail to co-operate, well…" he raised his eyebrows and looked at Reno.

"What do you want to know, that would help, wouldn't it?" he said cockily.

"Don't talk to us like that." Reno snarled, "You're not in the position to. You, when you attacked me, Claudia put you up to that, right?"

"Yeah." Zack shrugged.

"Do you have any other associates?" Tseng asked calmly.

"Avalanche mainly. You see, Claudia's brother is in Avalanche. We haven't had any contact with him, just other members."

"Avalanche. Great." Reno sighed.

"Who is her brother?" Tseng said sharply.

"Strife…Cloud Strife."

"What the fuck?" Reno shouted.

"Yeah we're great friends me and Cloud. Haven't seen him in a while."

"Hang on…Why is her name Dickson? Shouldn't it be Strife?" Elena asked.

"She was adopted. That's why Cloud hasn't seen her in ages. Seemed their parents couldn't cope with her."

"So all that fuss over me killing her mother, when she wasn't even really related to her?" Reno said irritably

"Oh so you're the one who killed her? They always said it was a Turk."

"Don't get to comfortable here." Reno said, getting annoyed at his casual tone, "You're still in very deep here…"

"Reno, do you need to leave?" Tseng said loudly.

"No. Sorry." He said quietly.

"Right. So, does Cloud know about Claudia being dead?"

"Not a clue. I haven't spoken to him."

"Well." Tseng chucked him a company cell phone, "You're just about to."

Everyone in the room watched as Zack dialled the number on the cell phone. Reno's jaw twitched in annoyance. He put the phone to his ear.

"Cloud? It's Zack. Yeah…have you heard? You have? Oh. Yeah I did. Ok. Well don't do anything stupid Cloud." He looked nervously to the Turks surrounding him. "Well, I better go, I'll ring you again sometime and we can talk properly. Bye."

He lowered the phone slowly.

"Well?" Tseng said, eyebrows raised.

"He heard. And he's…not happy." He said grimly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Reno said

"Well…I would make sure you're on an all-out defensive for a while."